'Perfect night' for Luka

Luka Modric pointed to the team's strength of character after the impressive 4-1 win against FC Twente in the Champions League.

Luka Modric pointed to the team's strength of character after the impressive 4-1 win against FC Twente in the Champions League.

Our first-ever home match in the group stages of Europe's elite competition will join the long list of famous European nights under the lights at the Lane.

It was a rollercoaster ride in the rain against the Dutch champions.

Rafael van der Vaart had a penalty saved just before the break before firing us into the lead a minute into the second half.

Things looked rosy when Roman Pavlyuchenko doubled the lead with our second penalty but things took a turn for the worse when Twente pulled a goal back and then Rafa was sent off for a second yellow card.

However, the team responded, ‘Pav' converted our third penalty on the night for 3-1 and Gareth Bale rounded it all off with five minutes remaining.

"When they scored to make it 2-1 it made things a little edgy," admitted Luka. "But we soon scored for 3-1 and after that, everything was perfect.

"We showed real character after the sending off. We didn't panic and tried to continue playing our game.

"We had one less player for 30 minutes but still deserved to win."

Luka joined the chorus of praise for Gareth Bale after another barnstorming performance from the Welsh star.

"He was unbelievable again and has been all season," said Luka.

"When you have someone like Gareth you need to get him on the ball because you know he will do something with it.